Films With Purpose or FWP is a production company that's not about celebrity but rather social change. The founder, Sandra Evers-Manly focuses on African Americans in cinema. Early in her career, she executive produced short films about gang violence. Her nonprofit has helped shepherd films on various subjects, but this film, written and directed by Marcellus Cox, indirectly goes back to that issue of gang violence.
From the title, one might invoke Spike Lee as a basis of comparison. Lee's Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014) or Da 5 Bloods (2020) might have been inspirations for Cox's film. Those Spike Lee joints though are genre exercises that have nothing to do with gang violence on their surfaces. Lee has done films on gang violence, such as Clockers (1995) and Chi-Raq (2015), but those films are more about addressing the problem of gang violence in head-on ways or tactics. Cox's film is instead about addressing gang violence in a tangential fashion by depicting a version of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, BBBS, a real-life program that's all about providing mentorship for young people in need, so that they don't end up involved in gang violence.
Evers-Manly started making short films about gang violence around the same time that John Singleton made his Oscar-nominated Boyz n the Hood (1991), which is probably the most iconic piece of Black cinema on gang violence and the culture in South Central Los Angeles. 35 years later, Cox's film is pretty much in the same vein as Singleton's classic.
Stephen Cofield Jr. (Terrifier 3 and The Other Two) stars as Jasper, a mentor in the Big Brothers of America program. He's witnessed inner city violence. It's affected him. He had a mentor when he was young and now he's a mentor himself. Jasper's job is to spend time with a kid and help guide that kid to more positive and productive ends. If this were Boyz n the Hood, he would be Laurence Fishburne's Furious, yet seemingly not as militant or strict. He's very encouraging, as well as highly empathetic.
Duane Ervin (Pulp Modern: Die Laughing and American Crime) co-stars as Jamarcus Rose, the titular character, a teenage, aspiring baseball player who has an incredibly fast, pitching arm. His parents have passed and his grandmother is raising him. If this were Boyz n the Hood, Jamarcus would be a combination of Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character of Tre and Morris Chestnut's character of Ricky. Instead of football, which was the sport Ricky played, Jamarcus plays baseball and is good enough to go pro.
Ruthie Austin (Snowfall and Your Honor) rounds out the cast as Esther, the grandmother to Jamarcus. If this were Boyz n the Hood, she would be the Angela Bassett of this story, only not as saucy or sassy. She tells Jamarcus that she signed him up for the Big Brothers program because he needs someone to teach him how to be a man, which echoes almost exactly what Bassett's character says. This film never quite specifies what that means exactly. Back in 1991, Singleton had probably a singular idea of what manhood and masculinity were supposed to be. Yet, it's 35 years later. What manhood and masculinity are today are different and aren't limited as to who can teach it. This film leans into this modern-day look at masculinity where men can sit around and talk about their feelings and vulnerabilities, as well as even cry.
Not Rated but recommended ages 14 and Up
Running Time: 23 mins.
Playing in film festivals.